Tag: Ramallah

At the Checkpoint: Photo Exhibit

Palestinian photographer Khaled Jarrar will exhibit his photos at Qalandya checkpoint, one of the largest checkpoints in the West Bank. These photos show the daily suffering of Palestinians at checkpoints and the Wall.

Commenting on the Qalandya photo exhibition, Khaled Jarrar stated: “I want to show people our tragedy through my art, the reality of the daily humiliation we suffer, how old people, women and children are treated at the checkpoints. This is my form of nonviolence resistance.”

Qalandia checkpoint is not located on a any border. Instead, the checkpoint has been erected between the Palestinian towns of Ramallah and Qalandia refugee camp, on one side, ar-Ram and Occupied East Jerusalem on the other. Thus Palestinians are forcibly parted from Jerusalem– the historical, economic, spiritual, and physical heart of the West Bank.

Passage through Qalandya checkpoint has become nearly impossible for most Palestinians, and for those needing to reach nearby Jerusalem. In order to reach home, work, and families, Palestinians must cross through this fortress-like structure. Passage is denied to Palestinians without an Israeli-issued Jerusalemite residency I.D. or permit. Palestinians– women and men, young and elderly, are all subject to this form of collective punishment. Eligible Palestinians must usually exit the car on either side of the massive barrier, make their way through a maze of turnstiles, gates, Israeli soldiers, metal detectors and video cameras, before exiting the other side where they can board another vehicle to reach their destinations. This nightmare is even worse when a medical emergency is involved. Palestinians seeking medical attention are often refused crossing by the Israeli soldiers at the checkpoint.

The exhibition, entitled “At the Checkpoint”, has previously touched base at Huwara checkpoint outside of Nablus and in Ramallah at the International Academy of Art.

For more info, contact:
Khaled Jarrar 0599303232
ISM Media Office 022971824

AP: “Reporters hurt as Israeli security forces break up Palestinian demonstrations”

Associated Press

Crowd-control devices like stun grenades and tear gas have injured a number of journalists in recent weeks, including two television crewmen covering a women’s protest Thursday — and reporters are charging they’ve been targeted by Israeli security forces.

Over the last three months, at least five journalists were injured — including an AP photographer whose leg was broken by a stun grenade — while covering protests or Israeli military operations. In one incident, an AP photographer said a stun grenade was thrown at reporters as they talked to soldiers.

The army denied any targeting of journalists, and said it would investigate the incidents.

The military “does not intentionally harm journalists, and any such claims on this matter are baseless,” a military statement said, adding that there are “inherent risks to journalists” covering combat operations.

The casualties were caused by non-lethal means the Israelis use to break up demonstrations and riots. However, stun grenades, which make a loud noise can cause serious injuries when their canisters fly through the air, and tear gas can also cause injury in high concentrations.

On Thursday, paramilitary border police fired stun grenades from a distance of about 10 meters to break up a demonstration of women at the Qalandia checkpoint between the West Bank and Jerusalem.

Associated Press Television cameraman Eyad Moghrabi was hit on the leg by a flying piece of metal. TV footage showed a stun grenade exploding among the reporters, who were several meters away from the demonstrators. The pictures show the reporters scattering, with one clutching her leg.

“This was not the first time they fire where the journalists are located,” Moghrabi said.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the officers warned everyone, including journalists, that their presence was illegal, before firing the stun grenades, denying that reporters were targeted.

In its statement, the military said it “strives to ensure that the press is not hindered,” but said that when soldiers declare an area closed, reporters are expected to leave.

While agreeing that the military did not have a deliberate policy, Daniel Blumenthal, vice chairman of the Foreign Press Association, said there are numerous complaints. “We assume some soldiers act on their own initiative because of their idea about where a journalist should be (during) an event.”

Thursday’s casualties were only the most recent.

On Wednesday, Al-Jazeera technician Maamoun Othman was wounded when Israeli soldiers fired stun grenades during the arrest of a radical Islamic leader.

“A stun grenade was fired at me directly. It landed on my stomach,” Othman said.

On Feb. 27, journalists say they were hit as they talked to soldiers about covering an army operation in Nablus.

AP photographer Emilio Morenatti said soldiers approached them in jeeps, asking them to leave.

As they were talking with the soldiers “one hand appeared from the (army) car, and threw a stun grenade at us,” he said. No one was hurt.

The FPA protested the Nablus incident, calling it “obstruction and ill treatment of journalists.” Morenatti suffered a broken leg from a fragment of a stun grenade, thrown from a distance of about two meters while he was covering a protest in the West Bank village of Bilin in January.

On Feb. 16, AP photographer Nasser Shiyoukhi was hurt when soldiers fired a tear gas grenade that exploded next to a group of reporters near Hebron.